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8.07.2017

Yes, it's that time again

THT has alerted me to the fact you all are approaching 5,000 posts, which means it's time for a new thread. It would be my pleasure to create said new thread.
Before I leave, however, I'd like to provide you a picture of the always-lovely Mariska Hargitay.

Cincy, it's like being a map/trivet/beer can/widget collector. Collectors desire but fear completion. I'm impressed with your foresight to include that typo so that you had a good reason to leave it on an even post count.

I've got my NASA approved glasses and am ready to roll. Just need to decide whether I'm going to travel to the Totality zone or not (and where in it if I do). We'll be at something like 97% coverage here in Huntsville, but I don't know how that compares to 100% for maxing out the experience.

Then today, a buddy tossed out the idea of renting a cabin in the North Georgia mountains for the weekend and checking out. I'm torn.

I got my glasses a few weeks ago. Planning on staying in Nashville the night before and trying to make my way a little further into the totality zone the day of. I think the roads will be pretty crazy. I have been planning on viewing the total eclipse since seeing this date on a table in high school, so I ain't planning on settling for no partial nonsense.

I don't have my hopes up too high, though, because if you look at the cloud data there is about a 40% chance the total eclipse will be covered by clouds. We'll see.

The thing I worry about with the eclipse plane stuff is that you'll only be able to see the eclipse on one side. Won't the plane tip over when all the passengers move to the windows on that one side to see the eclipse?

If I played that I would really be running on empty. It's completely missing the most important little piano riff at the end. Now, if I had listened to this one, particularly at the 4:29-4:30 mark, I would have been energized.

That's kinda how I feel about it. Then Grit will take over for 4-6 games before he gets hurt. Then Gus will go back and forth between the two hoping one of them can play hurt. The results will be similar to the end of last year.

I'm suggesting more of a doom and gloom path of Malik being forced to play late this season due injuries and then turning out to be terrible and moving somewhere else where he can help the team next spring. But you're right, he might just transfer.

JFiii makes a 180 from last week. Sure seems late in the year to get established at another school, unless it's way on down the pecking order, like D-II or D-III. At this stage of the game, what's the point?

Any of you guys wondered about Kevin Steele this year? I mean, I thought everyone kinda gave the side eye to that hire. He had a really good year last year, but ... there's still that little bit of doubt that this was the right guy.

"A self-described "aggressive" corner, Dean He had an interception return for touchdown in Auburn's first scrimmage of fall camp and several receivers have cited matching up with him as a difficult chore."

KIMBERLY, Idaho • A goat dairy is going in next to a residential area on the southeast corner of town and many townsfolk are angry they weren’t consulted.

“It would have been nice to have known about it before it was OK’d,” said Roger Benavidez, who lives just a few doors north of the 200-goat operation.

But no approval is necessary for an ag operation in an ag zone, said Rob Wright, Kimberly’s development director.

Some neighbors are concerned about their property values, said Keith Strolberg, who lives near the dairy on Irene Street. Others are concerned about odors and flies as livestock move closer to residences.

“I think we’re being railroaded,” Strolberg said.

But city and county zoning laws are in line with the state’s Right to Farm Act, which is “the law of the land,” Wright said.

Notice they never mention the goat farmer by name. Don't ask him 'bout his bidness

Keith Strolberg is one to talk. He's got toys strewn all over his lawn, which is completely overrun by weeds. And he's got about 3 broken down cars in his unfenced backyard that are visible from the street. I should by worried about abouy MY property value because of him.

Roger Benavidez is a decent dude, so I actually almost feel bad about what the radiation is doing to him.

Here's the thing, I don't agree with his "preservationist" point of view, but I can almost tolerate it. You know. That's like your opinion, man.

But if I'm at a rally for pancake lovers, and someone brings out a Nazi flag. I either 1. Disassociate myself with said rally and look for different pancake lovers or 2. Tell that person to take a hike.

My suspicion is that although Nicholas doesn't see himself as a racist, he's not all that bothered by the white supremacists. And that, my friend, is a problem.

I don't know how well Nicholas knows his own movement, but they are pretty good at saying a few statements that don't seem all that inflammatory. Then you dig down deeper and see they are despicable racists whose ultimate goal is a white ethno-state. Sure, leaders like Richard Spencer say they want to accomplish this peacefully, but, uhhhh... what if all the non-whites won't voluntarily leave your racist ethno-state? I think we've seen this script before, what people can do to others they deem less than fully human.

The minority in the movement with the nazi flags are just being more intellectually honest than the rest of them.

Penguins need a Butcher. He won hockey's equivalent of the Heisman.2.0 and I were hoping they'd dump the $4mil/yr/5yr salary of underperforming D Olli Maata this summer, but alas they've kept him which will probably make them less attractive to Butcher.

When I was growing up, the Haw River was black as ink with suds always floating on it. Maybe that's why the dog I had was black. Thanks to environmental regulations and cheap Chinese/Indonesian/Guatemalan/etc textiles, the Haw is now a beautiful river like it was 200 years ago.

Back when I lived in Memphis, the old timers used to talk about how beautiful and clear the Wolf River was. It was apparently real good for swimming. Thanks to all the construction and residential runoff, it was completely muddy and gross by the time I was there. Pretty sure it ain't gotten any better yet.

Big score!!! The Buy More Central has a lounge with drinks and beverages for all the shelf stockers. I don't frequent the lounge much since I quit aspartame but I dropped by to grab some nabs for tomorrow's long day. Surprise! For the first time ever, I saw some Sparkling Ices in there. I nabbed two of them for tomorrow's all day all night sale extravaganza. Come on buy. There will be great deals. Summer close outs. Everything must go!

from al.com21 Times the AP preseason poll has featured Auburn with a ranking of 12th or better, including this year's poll, which has the Tigers at No. 12. In the previous 20 polls in which Auburn has been ranked 12th or better, the Tigers were ranked higher than their preseason ranking in the final poll four times and lower 16 times, including seven times in which they finished unranked.

I confess I haven't seen a 100% solar eclipse. I was probably less than 50 miles outside "the zone" in 1970 which is as close as I've been. But what was probably a very mediocre Aurora in New Hampshire in July 1972 was absolutely one of the coolest things I've ever witnessed.

I'm guessing michael is still stuck in the dark somewhere. Or maybe he's got an emergency with the eclipse-induced psychosis his goats are experiencing. But please, don't ask him bout his bidness.

We had a rooftop eclipse watching party with Kathryn's four children. I saw some of it, but mainly I was the paranoid grandmother making sure everyone was keeping their glasses on. It was neat here in Birmingham, but I thought it would get much darker. It was really just like a slightly overcast day. Amazing how that little bit of sun kept everything so bright.

I liked all the little crescent-shaped sun spots on our driveway as the sun poked through tiny windows in the leafy canopy. What I appreciated most was the drop from 94 degrees to about 85. I wish we could have an eclipse from May to October.

The Coquimbo region and whatever part of Argentina is adjacent to it, though I would plan on seeing more of Argentina and Chile. Would just make sure I'm there for totality and spend the rest of the week or two trekking around the countries.

Only thing is that it looks like it would happen close to sunset. Liked that it basically in the middle of the day yesterday.

It's really hard to explain how amazing the total eclipse was. I was discussing this with my wife yesterday... I don't even understand why I am so floored by the whole thing. It doesn't really make sense. So the moon covered up the sun for a couple of minutes, what's the big deal? I ain't normally one who is overly sentimental, but that dang eclipse was just something else I tell ya. I don't understand it, but it was.

A couple of other factors: I have been looking forward to this eclipse since a partial that came through Memphis when I was in elementary school, and a cloud very nearly blocked the dang thing before clearing up right at totality. There was drama.

A guy I work with went to Tennessee and had his view of totality blocked by a cloud. He said he heard everyone in the Titans' stadium had their view messed up by clouds.

Yeah, kind of echoing what MJT was saying about how he could see how ancients would be really freaked out by the whole thing. Even with a basic understanding of the science of it all, I was slightly freaked out by it.

Ebro - we stayed the night with my mother-in-law and step-father-in-law in Nashville, but drove up to a friends' house in Hendersonville the morning of to get 2 min 30 sec of totality (the MIL in Nashville only got 30 seconds. 30 minute drive turned into 2 minutes more of totality, which itself is fascinating to me).

I have to say it was very nice being able to hang out in air conditioning while waiting for some of the Nashville traffic to lighten up after the eclipse. Knowing someone in the path of totality is nice.